Example sentences
tā他zài在gēn跟shuí谁shuō说huà话？
Who is he talking to?
shàng上kè课bié别shuō说huà话。
Don't talk in class.
The story behind the character
说
言 (speech) plus 兑, which gives the sound. Xu Shen wrote 说, 释也: "to explain." To speak is to explain.
话
言 (speech) plus 舌 (tongue). It just means spoken words. A phonetic character, no mystery.